Les Obaga Bio-center

The cooperative Les Obaga have worked since 1983 offering programs and environmental education activities in the agricultural and livestock.As a classroom, the field of Juneda (Lleida), as subjects, the nature, respect for the environment and knowledge of sgriculture. The works of the high speed train in 2003 forced Les Obaga to relocate to another area within the municipality of Juneda.

The new Les Obaga Bio-center has been built with sustainability criteria. "We wanted to manage the center as part of teaching: use of solar energy and water, waste management, renewable energy, etc..," Says Lluis Miró, one of the founders of the cooperative.

Behind the project is also the Camp d 'aprenentatge Juneda Farm School, an educational service of the Department of Education of the Generalitat of Catalonia which offers boys and girls from the Community and schools, the possibility of knowing the rural world. The educational service is used by about 4,000 students during the school year for stays of three days or a week, and 800 adults on weekend stays.

"While it may seem a cliché, the most important value of this project is the team that is doing it, and since 1983 has devoted its efforts and skills to enable users to experience Les Obaga 'camp life' under the parameters of sustainability" said Miro.

Construction of Les Obaga is funded by Triodos Bank. "Given the need to seek financing from a credit, we wanted to keep some consistency criteria for sustainable with the money. And Triodos Bank is the bank that seemed best suited to meet this requirement. We must emphasize that the offer of Triodos Bank was on equal footing with other conventional banks" says Miro.

It's so sad to see how detatched so many of our kids today have become from the wilderness and from true farm land. So many kids that grow up in the city are completley isolated from expansive land, and therefore have no idea what the importance of sustainability are.